It is a running joke in my Master’s with Certificate cohort that we reflect upon our reflections and then we reflect some more. A lot of our coursework requires us to reflect; we reflect on lesson plans, curriculum, behavior management, observations, our growth in a variety of areas relating to becoming an educator, and so much more.

Since I have made the decision to go back to school and get my teaching certificate and Master’s in Education my blogging has seriously fallen by the wayside. When I am not in my mentor teacher’s classroom, I am at my night classes, working on coursework (and reflecting, of course), or snatching moments with my family. Plus there is the constants of laundry, cleaning, and meal making, the “doing of life” that Husband has been doing more and more of as I am required to spend more of my time “doing school”. Blogging, and consequently, writing for enjoyment has dropped to the very bottom of my “To do” list.

In the shower this morning, the place where my most brilliant ideas come to me, get enveloped in French lavender or lemon verbena soap bubbles, and swirl merrily down the drain never to be heard from again, I had and actually retained a wonderful idea.

I should blog some weekly reflections from my student teaching experience.

Now, if I actually do this, I will be both blogging and doing something that I can potentially used in my coursework. Plus I think these informal reflections will be beneficial in forming the type of educator I want to become.

It is always nice to hear of others going through a similar program later in their life and having no regrets. I am one of the oldest in my cohort, I will be turning 40 in April. I am also one of only a few who have children and am trying to balance school with family. There are days when I really wonder if this is the right thing to be doing and I get so overwhelmed with all the little details. Then I find myself getting excited over dorky things like writing a wonderful lesson plan that aligns with the common core and teaching “know it” words and little science lessons.

It is hard but I shall press on and make it through to the other side. May is not that far away…

Thank you! It has been a much harder struggle then I imagined it to be. I really get tore up over missing out on Cody and Carter’s days and have huge mom guilt dropping them off at before school childcare and needing them to be in the after school childcare too. They love it (thankfully) but I fret about the long days for them and not having those special walks back from the school bus stop when we chatted about each others days. It will be worth it in the end, but now it seems to be almost too much. I hope some random, fun, informal reflections of my days in the classroom will help me to not loose sight of why I am doing all this.

I’m in the same boat with our last one who’s 5. I choke back the tears… I think it’s harder on us than it is on them!

There will always be plenty of special times for those bonding moments. I didn’t realize that until our oldest just turned 15 – the talks we have on the way to school and now that he is learning to drive, are priceless. But it’s a Cats in the Cradle sort of life-song – we wish we had more of those times, but life naturally gets in the way.

Cherish the moments when they arise, and allow your forward academic momentum to eclipse the guilt. Cody & Carter are at the perfect age to start letting go of mom & to venture forth into life as the rest of us know it.

It’s a fine line between raising boys who will be mama’s boys versus boys who will conquer the universe. You were there 24/7 for their formative years, and developmentally (from a child therapist’s perspective), those are the years that count the most and you have already equipped them for what lies ahead. You are equipping them further by furthering your credentials. Don’t think they won’t remember that when they’re older and are wondering what to do with their lives.

A beautiful comment – thank you for this. It is so hard to find that balance, to accept that to gain, sometimes there needs to be a loss and it does not mean that these things are equal. I move forward and I hope that in the end the decisions I make now, as hard as they may be, will benefit our future.

Thank you! I hope I actually find a way to fit this idea in. I so miss writing (and reading!) for my blog. In the grand scheme of things, my blogging is not all that important, but to me – it is. And that has to count for something. All is going well although sometimes I feel so tired and scatterbrained that it is amazing to me that the daily progress is met each day.